1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to ducts of the type used, for example, to support, house, and protect various pieces of equipment, such as pieces of electrical equipment, and also to support, house, and protect cables, conductors, pipes, or other pieces of equipment needed for serving said pieces of equipment.
The invention relates more particularly to a corner accessory for placing at the junction between at least two ducts that extend in different directions, the accessory comprising two distinct flaps, one of which includes a projecting element and the other of which includes a circular opening receiving said projecting element to allow said flaps to pivot about a pivot axis, the circular edge of said opening opening out locally to a straight slot that extends radially relative to the circular edge of said opening and that opens out into a free edge of said flap.
A particularly advantageous application of the invention lies in making an inside or an outside corner accessory for ducts.
2. Description of Related Art
Document IT 01281834 discloses a corner accessory having a web that includes facing lugs at one end of its flanges, which lugs carry studs for insertion into circular openings provided in the flanges of the other web.
The webs are assembled together by squeezing together a little the flanges of the web including said openings so as to deform said flanges elastically and engage said studs in said openings.
Thus, said webs can take up different relative angular positions between a first extreme position in which the web carrying the studs uncovers a maximum amount of the other web so as to form an angle less than equal to 90°, and a second extreme position in which said web carrying the studs completely overlies the other web so as to form an angle greater than 90°.
In addition, according to that document, each of said lugs carrying the studs of the corresponding web presents a circular edge provided with a chamfer such that when said web is in the second extreme position completely overlying the other web, the edge co-operates with a recessed corner in the vicinity of the opening on the outer surface of the rim of the corresponding web. That co-operation of chamfers with corners ensures that when in said second extreme position, an impact on said webs will not cause the studs to escape from said openings and thus said webs to be disassembled.
Such an accessory presents several drawbacks.
Firstly, it is difficult to assemble the two flaps of the accessory together since that requires said flaps to be deformed and requires the studs to be brought into alignment with the respective openings while they are unseen.
Furthermore, in order to limit the amount of deformation that is necessary for the flap including said openings, and thus make it easier to assemble the flaps together, the studs provided on the other flap are of small height. Thus, when an impact occurs against said flaps, it can easily cause the studs to escape from said openings and thus cause the flaps to be disassembled. Apart from the arrangement of chamfers and corners, the accessory does not include any means for ensuring, that in the relative angular positions of said webs other than said above-mentioned extreme positions, an impact against said webs does not cause the stud to escape from said openings, i.e. does not cause said webs to be disassembled.
Finally, document DE 20 2005 012 520 U describes an outside or inside corner accessory having two distinct identical flaps that are hinged to each other via a peg provided on one of the flaps with the shank thereof engaging via a slot in an opening provided in the other flap. Each flap comprises a web between two facing flanges on two opposite sides, the flanges extending substantially at right angles to the web, the peg being provided on the inside face of a portion of the flange that covers a portion of the flange provided with said opening in the other flap.